PAK Vs ENG, 2nd Test: Joe Root Overtakes Alastair Cook To Become England's Leading Run-Getter

It was Joe Root's 17th 50+ score against Pakistan in Tests and he surpassed Alastair Cook again to become the leading English player to achieve this milestone

Jagdish Yadav

Updated on: 9 October 2024 1:07 pm

Englands Joe Root celebrates after scoring a fifty during the third day of the first Test. AP Photo

England's Joe Root celebrates after scoring a fifty during the third day of the first test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Multan. AP Photo/Anjum Naveed

Joe Root reached another milestone in Test cricket during his inning in the first Test match against Pakistan at Multan on Wednesday when he surpassed Sir Alastair Cook for the most Test runs with a beautiful on-drive off the last delivery of Aamer Jamal's over. (Day 3 Blog | More Cricket News)

The former England captain needed just 70 runs to go past Cook for becoming the leading run-getter for England in Test cricket before this match and he, continuing his good form, reached the milestone easily on day three of the first Test at Multan Cricket Stadium.

The 33-year-old Root is now at number five on the list of all-time highest run-getters in Test cricket. He surpassed Cook's 12,472 runs and now he needs less than 1000 runs to over Ricky Ponting (13,378), who is second on the list.

Jacques Kallis (13289) and Rahul Dravid (13288) are in the third and fourth positions respectively. Root overtook Kumar Sangakkara (12,400 runs) in the last match against Sri Lanka.

Playing in just his 147th Test match, Root achieved many milestones. He overtook David Gower (1185) to become the second England batter with the most runs against Pakistan in Test cricket. Alastair Cook has the most runs (1719) against Pakistan for England.

Former England captain Joe Root. - Photo: X | Joe Root

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He also completed his fifty en route to achieving this feat and now joins Rahul Dravid for the record of the most 50+ scores in Test (99). Sachin Tendulkar has the most 50+ scores in Test cricket (119).

It was Joe Root's 17th 50+ score against Pakistan in Tests and he overtook Cook again to become the leading English player to achieve this milestone.

Joe Root has been in sublime form since last year and he has scored five centuries this year. He still has six innings left in the Pakistan series. He had hit two tons in 2023 and five hundreds in 2022. Root has made 4629 Test runs in 91 innings since 2021 with the help of 16 50s and 17 tons.

The Yorkshire-born Root is way ahead of his contemporaries in the traditional format. There are often comparisons among the Fab Four (including Virat Kohli, Steven Smith and Kane Williamson) but he has taken the red-ball format by storm and is ruling at the moment.

At lunch break, he is unbeaten on 72 with Ben Duckett (80 not out) as England still trail by 324 runs in the first innings at Multan in the first Test.

England and Pakistan both are out of the race for the World Test Championship (WTC) final to be played at Lord's in June next year.